On November 11, 2026, BlockBeats reported that former White House crypto adviser Patrick Witt said President Trump remains interested in buying bitcoin to add to the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Witt made the comments on the podcast What Bitcoin Did and said related plans had already been discussed more than once. He also said a direct open-market purchase is legally uncertain because Congress controls federal spending.
The constraint on buying
Witt said the government cannot treat an open-market bitcoin purchase as a settled option. Congress holds authority over federal spending, so buying bitcoin directly in the open market carries legal uncertainty. Congress has added restrictive provisions to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that prohibit this kind of direct purchase. BlockBeats reported that the government is trying to obtain the relevant authorization.
Presidential interest, as Witt described it, is therefore not the same as spending authority. Under the account published on November 11, 2026, the NDAA restriction is the reported limit on direct market buying unless Congress grants authorization.
What the reserve already is
The U.S. government created the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve by executive order in March 2025. Its initial assets came mainly from bitcoin the government had previously seized. The order directed the Treasury and Commerce departments to explore budget-neutral ways to acquire more BTC. As of the November 11, 2026 report, no specific plan had been published, and no open-market purchase program had been announced.
The budget-neutral mandate was an instruction to explore options, not a completed acquisition method. The report does not identify any budget-neutral mechanism that had been chosen.
How long an order-based reserve can last
Witt also said that making the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve permanent through a standalone bill would be very difficult with Congress divided. Without legislation, the reserve still depends on the executive order, and a future president could revoke it with a new executive order.
That durability point is Witt’s assessment, as reported by BlockBeats, not a conclusion that reversal or legislation will occur. On his account, an order-based reserve remains exposed to a later executive order, while a bill to make it permanent would face a high bar in a split Congress. Any addition through direct open-market buying would still have to clear the spending restriction he described.
What the report does not establish
The November 11, 2026 report covers continued presidential interest, prior discussions, an NDAA bar on direct purchases, an effort to seek authorization, a March 2025 reserve built mainly from seized bitcoin, and an uncompleted look at budget-neutral acquisition. It does not announce a purchase, an amount, a funding method, or a date for any authorization decision.
Original report: BlockBeats, November 11, 2026, 17:38 UTC+8
